Saturday, November 2, 2013

It's in the bag

Guatemala Day Two.Wow, I was so focused on getting through October that I didn't take time to really think through November. It makes sense that it is harder--instead of forcing yourself to live off of the items you've already purchased, you have to live off foods that you only eat if you cannot afford anything else.

We're doing normal breakfasts--at least for now--so no complaining there. And then lunch came around. Today I made our first meal bag:

and it did not go as well as I was hoping. It actually smelled good as it was cooking so I wasn't sure why the small ones were so nervous. The kids kept popping in and out of the kitchen asking to see what it looked like, so they were all there when I started to dish it up. The cooking directions said 6-10 cups of water so I elected to go with eight which was apparently too much because as I turned the cup over the bowl it made an ever so unappetizing slopping sound. HA! I could not stop laughing at the looks on the girls' faces.

Our one cup serving sizes all dished up. Yes, I used a kids bowl too.

We started with a prayer--which included asking for the kids to have wisdom beyond their years to understand the poverty issues we are studying and that they remember that food is meant to be fuel, not always a favorite taste. I then told them about some of the research I had found and these meals are a way for people to help send food to families who have nothing to eat--or sometimes nothing more than tortillas like in Guatemala.

To be honest, it wasn't bad at all. I added a little salt and was pleasantly surprised by the flavor (I didn't necessarily have high hopes). The kids started off eating without complaint so I took a second to snap a picture of each:

You can tell by the fake A-Okay sign in the bottom corner that the complaints were coming. Actually, she was fairly sweet about it saying "It's not my favorite but I am grateful I have food and I will eat it." (Sweetie) Then the middle one piped in with "I would be grateful for only tortillas!" (cue eye-roll) The youngest had a problem getting it to stay on his spoon for some reason, but finally ate eat his entire serving. As did the oldest. The middle one sat there for an hour and ate 1/4-1/3 of her serving. I finally released her explaining that if she wasn't hungry enough to eat this, she wasn't hungry enough for anything until dinner. About three hours later, we were walking around the grocery store and she was holding her stomach, whimpering and asking how much longer until we went home. Ahhh, hunger pains.

Dinner of mashed pinto beans and tortillas went over very well. Absolutely no complaints. I think we'll stick with the meal bag at lunch so they have satisfied tummies at bedtime. I understand that many kids go to bed hungry, so I may change my mind so we get an extra dose of empathy, but--selfishly--I really want them to sleep, so I can.